Rotary sand spreader



March 29, 1955 A. J. ToRREY 2,705,149

ROTARY SAND SPREADER Filed NOV. 25, 1952 4 Shee'tS-Sheet l L17-l0??? fVwww"'I'i'E? l {Wm/ngi March 29, 1955 A. J. ToRREY ROTARY SAND SPREADER4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 25, 1952 ESSI..

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March 29, 1955 A, J, TORREY 2,705,149

ROTARY SAND SPREADER Filed Nov. 25. 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 I" .9. wir y vnventor;

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"Wam/wu United States Patent O 2,705,149 ROTARY SAND SPREADER Anthony J.Torrey, Framingham, Mass. Application November 25, 1952, Serial No.322,375 9 claims. (ci. 27s-s) This invention relates to vehicles forsanding roads and highways, and more particularly to a sand spreadingdevice in which the volume and distribution of the sand deposited on theroad may be varied to suit different surface and traffic conditions. v

The object of the invention is t9 provide a road sanding device which issuitable for mounting on standard trucks or other vehicles, whicheliminates much of the hand labor hitherto required for sanding,especially in conjested areas, which insures' free flow of the sand atfreezing temperature, which has provision for controlling the rate of owto suit various traffic and surface conditions, which, by means of asimple adjustment may be' made to distribute the greater part of thesandforward or back.

ward, or to the right or left of the vehicle, and which is adapted tospread sand'under all four wheels of the vehicle so as to maintainadequate traction.

In the drawings illustrating the invention, A.'

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a sand spreader constructed according tothe invention, part of :the truck? body on which the spreader ismountedbeing shown in dotted line, Fig. 2 is a plan view, partly cutaway, of the-sand spreader,

Fig. 3a is a cross-section throughthe rear end of lthe spreader takenalong line 3 3 of Fig.' 2,

Fig. 3b is a cross-section through the front end of the spreader takenalong line 3 3 ofFig. 2,

Fig. 4 is across-section taken along line 4 4 of Fig. 3a, l

Fig. 5 is a detail of the conveyor chain mounting, shown incross-section taken along line 5 5 of Fig. 2,

Fig. 6 is a cross-section taken along line 6 6 of Fig. 3b,

Fig. 7 is a cross-section taken along line 7 7 of Fig. 3b,

Fig. 8 is a detail Aof one of the impellers which distribute the sand, i

Fig. 9 is a view 'of the mechanism which controls tle volume of sandflowtaken along line 9 9 of Fig. 3 and Fig. 10 is a cross-section takenalong 10 10 of Fig. f

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, the supply of sand is carried in a hopperbody 1S of any suitable construction but preferably tapered'inward atthe bottom, mounted on a standard truck chassis 16, or other suitablevehicle. -A pair of conveyor chains 17 and 18, connected together atintervals by cross-rods 19 run across the bottom of the hopper and arecontinuously driven, by a mechanism to be further described, in thedirection of the arrow in Fig. 2. The conveyor carries the sand through,an opening 21 at the forward end of the hopper bodyI and dumps it intochutes 22 and 23, whence it fallsonto rotating impellers 24 and 25 andis sprayed out over a generally circular area by each impeller, asindicated by the arrows in Fig. l. Stationary cross-rods at intervalsacross the hopper above the conveyor cooperate with rods 19 to break up.lumps in the sand, such as might occur in severe weather when themoisture in the sand tends to freeze.

The hopper body is supported on two longitudinal channels 26 and 27resting on inverted lateral channels 28, 29, and 30. The conveyor chainsrun over front and rear sprockets of generally conventional design. Themounting of the rear sprockets is shown in Figs. 3a and 4. The sprockets31 and 32 are mounted on a common shaft 33 which projects through slots38 and 39 in giglgpounted.,

. of the holes 90, thus 2,105,149 Patented Mar. 29, 1955 45 in which isthreaded a screw 47. The screwfy carries a collar 48 which forms a seatfor one end 'ofspring 49. `The other end of spring 49 seats on a collar50 carried by stud 51. On the outer end `of stud 51 isa shoe 52 whichengages the grooved rim of roller 34. Screw 47, which may be locked bynuts 53 and 54, provides for adjustment of the spring force against theroller. A similar adjusting device for roller 35 is mounted on channel27. I

The mounting of the front sprockets is shown kin Figs. 3b and 6. Thesprockets 55 and 56 are mounted on a shaft 57 which is journalled onchannels 26 and27 and secured by collars 58 and 59. It will be noted`that the Hoor 60 of the hopper body extends forward between thesprockets and curves over to form an apron 61V which guides the sandinto the chutes 22 and 23.

The drive mechanism for the conveyor is best seen in Figs. 2 and 6. Asmall gasoline motor 65, is mounted in any suitable manner on the sideof the hopper body 15 and sprocket drive 66 to a longitudinally disposedshaft 67.` Controls `for engaging and disengaging the clutch so as tostart and stop the sanding mechanismmay be mounted in the cab of thetruck. Mounted on' shaft 67 is a worm 68 which engages `a bull gear 69.Both the worm and the bull gear are enclosed in a gear box 70. The bullgear is attachedv to the drive shaft 57 of the conveyor.

Shaft 67 also transmits power to the drive mechanism for the impellerswhich is illustrated in Figs. 2.and` 7.

miter gear-71 mounted on the end of shaft67 and enclosed in a suitablegear box 72 engages a second miter gear 73 which is mounted on atransverse shaft 74. The outer end of shaft 74 is journalled on a pillonblock 75. A pair of floating gear boxes 76 and 77 are rotatably mountedon shaft 74, and'house a pair of miter gears 78 and 79, respectively,which are splined to the shaft.

`gears 80 and '8 1 which are n 83 respectively. The impeller shaftsextend through the bottoms of chutes 22 and 23 and have the impellers24'and 25 mounted on their lower ends. As is apparent from the geararrangement, rotation of shaft 74 results in driving the impellerssimultaneously in opposite directions.

The construction of the impellers, for example, impeller 25, isillustrated in Fig. 8. A circular disk 8 4'is chutes. A bracket 89 ismounted on the outside of the face plate and has a series of holes 90,through which a locking bolt 91 maybe inserted.A Hole 92 inlink 87 maybeplocked by the bolt in alignment with any one providing adjustment ofshaft 83 to a positioneithen side of the vertical as indicated -by thedot and dash lines in Fig. 3b. A similar adjusting device is providedfor shaft 82;v `By adjusting the angle of the impeller shafts thedistribution and area of spread of the sand be varied to suit the roadconditions. When the shafts are placed so that the centers of theimpellers are in line with the centers of the chutes the sand is thrownout uniformly in all directions. When the shafts are tilted further backthe major portion of the sand hits the front part of the mpellers wherethe tins are turning inward, and consequently the sand is spread thickerin the middle and overa narrower area. When the shafts are tiltedforward, the major portion of the sand hits the rear of the impellerswhere the fins are turning outward and the spread is wider and thickertoward the outside.

Thevolume of sand delivered to the impellers is controlled by means ofan adjustable gate which is illustrated in Figs. 7, 9, and l0. A pair ofangular guides 101 and 102 are mounted on the forward wall of the hopperbody on either side of the opening 21. A gate 95 is slidably mounted inthe guides. A lever 98 is pivoted on a stud 99 attached to the hopperbody alongside of the guide 102. At the inner end of the lever is a slot100 which engages a stud 97 protruding from a strap 96 attached to thegate. The outer end of the lever is offset to form a handle. Near theoffset is a pin 103 which may be made to engage any one of a series ofholes 104 in a plate 105 attached to the hopper body, and thus lock thegate 9S in one of several positions. It is apparent that the position of:the gate determines the volume of sand delivered to the impellers bythe conveyor. The volume control is employed for two purposes, first, tovary the thickness of the deposit, and, second, to allow for differentspeeds of operation of the truck. For example, in a congested area,'itlmay be necessary to drive the truck very slowly. The rate of delivery ofsand to the impellers may be cut down ,accordingly to avoid the wasteresulting from an unnecessarily thick deposit. In rural areas, where thetruck may be driven more rapidly, the rate of iiow of sand must be morerapid to produce satisfactory coverage.

Centrally mounted between the two hoppers is a vane 106, which is hingedon a rod 107. As shown in Fig. 7, a link 108 is connected to the top ofthe vane and also to a lever 109 journalled on a pin 110 on frame memberl30. -By means of the lever and link, vane 106 can be moved to the leftor right, as indicated by the arrows 111 and 112, so as to shut off partor all of the sand ow to one or the other of the chutes. The control ofsidewise distribution thus provided is useful, for example, for sandingin heavy traic where it is frequently necessary to stop spreading on oneside or the other of the truck to avoid throwing sand on oncoming orparked cars. This feature makes the spreader usable in congested areaswhere, previously, much of the sanding had to be done by hand.

It. will be noted in Fig. l that the arrangement of the irnpellers underthe central part of the vehicle results in distribution of the sandunder all four wheels, so that adequate traction is maintained for safeoperation. For certain types of operations, however, such as spreadingsand or crushed stone on newly laid tar roads, it may be preferable toback the truck. In this case the entire hopper and sanding assembly maybe mounted in reverse on the chassis so that the chutes and impellersare on the rear.

What is claimed is:

l. A sand spreader for a truck or simiiar vehicle comprising: acontainer for storing a supply of sand; a pair of chutes disposed nearone end of said container and having top entrances and bottom outlets; aconveyor adapted to deliver sand from said container to the topentrances of said chutes; a pair of shafts, mounted one within each ofsaid chutes, each shaft having an upper end... projecting above the topentrance and a lower end projecting below the bottom outlet of the chutein which it is mounted; a pair of rotary impellers, one mounted on thelower end of each of said shafts; drive means connected to thc upperends of said shafts for rotating said shafts; and means forvtransversely shifting the lower ends of said shafts with respect to saidoutlets, thereby exposing different portions of the impellers to the owof sandfthrough said outlets.

2. A sand spreader for a truck or similar vehicle comprising: acontainer for storing a supply of sand; a pair of chutes disposed nearone end of said container and having top entrances and bottom outlets: aconveyor adapted to deliver sand from said container to the topentrances of said chutes; a pair of shafts, mounted one within each ofsaid chutes, each shaft having an upper end projecting above the topentrance and a lower end projecting below the bottom outlet of the chutein which it is mounted; a pair of rotary impellers, one mounted on thelower end of each of said shafts; a common drive mechanism connected tosaid top ends and adapted to rotate saidshafts in opposite directions;and means for transversely shifting the lower ends of said shafts withrespect to said outlets in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle,thereby exposing different portions of the impellers to the ilow of sandthrough said outlets.

3. A sand spreader for a truck or similar vehicle cornprising: acontainer for storing a supply of sand; a pair of chutes disposed nearone end of said container and having top entrances and bottom outlets; aconveyor adapted to deliver sand from said container to top entrances ofsaid chutes; means for varying the rate of delivery of sand to saidchutes; a pair of shafts, mounted one within each of said chutes, eachshaft having an upper end projecting above the top entrance and a lowerend projecting below the bottom outlet of the chute in which it ismounted; a pair of rotary impellers one mounted on the lower end of eachof said shafts; drive means connected to said upper ends for rotatingsaid shafts; and means for transversely shifting the lower ends of saidshafts with respect to said outlets in the longitudinal direction of thevehicle, thereby exposing different portions of the impellers to theflow of sand through said outlets.

4. A sand spreader for trucks and similar vehicles comprising: a sandstorage container having a forward wall; an opening in the lower part ofsaid wall; a gate slidably mounted on said wall to overlie said opening,means for locking said gate in any of several positions, thereby varyingthe size of said opening; a pair of chutes mounted forward of said wall,said chutes having top entrances and bottom outlets; a conveyortraversing the floor to said container and extending through saidopening to a point adjacent said entrances; means for driving saidconveyor to carry sand to said chutes; a pair of impeller shafts mountedone in each of said chutes, each shaft having an upper end projectingabove the top entrance and a lower end projecting below the bottomoutlet of the chute in which it is mounted; drive means connected to theupper ends of said shafts for rotating said shafts; impellers mounted onthe lower ends of said shafts; and means for shifting said lower ends inlongitudinal direction of the vehicle, thereby exposing differentportions of said impellers to the flow of sand from said chutes.

5. A sand spreader for a truck or similar vehicle comprising: acontainer for storing a. supply of sand; a pair of chutes disposed nearone end of said container and having top entrances and bottom outlets; aconveyor adapted to deliver sand from said container to said entrances;means disposed between said conveyor and said entrances for varying theapportionment of the sand delivered to said entrances; a pair of shafts,one mounted in each of said chutes, each shaft having an upper endextending above the entrance and a lower end extending below the outletof the chute in which it is mounted; a pair of rotary impellers, onemounted on the lower end of each of said shafts; drive means connectedto the upper ends of said shafts for rotating said shafts; and means fortransversely shifting the lower ends of said shafts with respect to saidoutlets, thereby exposing different portions of the impellers to the owof said through said outlets.

6. A sand spreader for a truck or similar vehicle comprising: acontainer for storing a supply of sand; a pair of chutes disposed nearone end of said container and having top entrances and bottom outlets; aconveyor adapted to deliver sand from said container to said entrances;a movable dellector plate disposed between the entrances of said chutes;means for shifting the position of said deliector so as to vary theapportionmentof the sand delivered to said entrances; a pair f shafts,one mounted in each of said chutes, each shaft having an upper endprojecting above the entrance and a lower end projecting below theoutlet of the chute in which it is mounted; a pair of rotary impellers,one mounted on the lower end of each of said shafts; drive meansconnected to the upper ends of said shafts for rotating said shafts; andmeans for transversely shifting the lower ends of said shafts withrespect to said outlets, thereby exposing different portions of thempellers to the ow of sand through said outlets.

7. A sand spreader for trucks and similar vehicles comprising: acontainer for storing a supply of sand; a pair of chutes disposed nearone end of said container and having bottom outlets; a conveyor fordelivering sand from said container to said chutes; a cross-shaftmounted 35 laterally across said vehicle above said chutes; means forcontinuously driving said shaft; a pair of impeller shafts, each havinga miter gear on its upper end, disposed one of said chutes and eitendingthrough said openings; a pair of shaft supporting members journalled onsaid drive shaft and supporting said miter gears; a pair of miter gearsmounted on said cross-shaft and meshing with the gears on said impellershafts; a pair of rotary impellers one mounted on the lower end of eachof said impeller shafts; and means for locking said members in any ofseveral rotational positions about said cross-shaft, thereby adjustingthe angle of said impeller shafts so as to expose a desired portion ofthe impellers to the ow of sand through said openings.

A sand spreader yas described in claim 7, said conveyor comprising apair of chains traversing the oor of said container and connectedtogether by a plurality of cross-rods, and said container having aplurality of stationary rods mounted therein adjacent and parallel tosaid cross-rods.

9. A sand spreader as described in claim 7 having a drive shaft for saidconveyor disposed laterally across said vehicle, a bull gear mounted onsaid conveyor drive shaft, a main drive shaft disposed longitudinally onsaid vehicle, a worm mounted on said main drive shaft and meshing withsaid bull gear, a. third miter gear mounted on said cross-shaft, and amiter gear mounted on said main drive shaft and meshing Within saidthird miter gear.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

